Scott Snyder and Charles Soule's new creator-owned project, Undiscovered Country, premiered last week. The premise was intriguing enough-- 30 years ago, the United States literally closed it's borders and skies. No one in, no one out. Now, the rest of the world is dying of a plague, and a crew is sent into the mysterious once-USA to find a cure and to discover what has become of this once great country. My review will have some spoilers in it, so if you haven't read the book and want to, maybe do that first. This first issue is one of the best starts to a comic I've read in a while, and I'm already geared up for issue two. Continue Reading for my thoughts on number one! It's always good news to see creators, who have been stuck more-or-less in one division of the comics world, slide over into another area and start making comics that are new for them. Charles Soule isn't primarily known for indie projects, and neither is Scott Snyder. As a writer, Soule has done a lot of recent work with Marvel, including Daredevil, She-Hulk, Death of Wolverine, and various Star Wars comics such as Darth Vader, Poe Dameron, and Lando. On the other end of the spectrum, Snyder has been working primarily with DC Comics of late, known for his writing on multiple Batman stories, DC Metal, and currently Justice League. To take these two from the comfort of their Big-Two contracts is a good thing-- not only is it good practice to keep their creative juices flowing, it's a ton of fun to see our favorite authors work on passion projects from their own minds.
Undiscovered Country fills you in as you go. The premise is known off the get-go--30 years ago, the former United States of America closed for business, and that was that. Throughout the comic, the audience gets a decent idea of just how that affected the rest of the world. Not only in trade, economy, and culture, but how it affected us as societies. It didn't take long for wars to break out, and two major factions were created: the Pan-Asian Zone and the European/African Alliance. As in any fictional society, these two factions hate each other for as-yet unspecified reasons. It's 30 years post-USA, and a virus is threatening to destroy both factions. They call the virus Sky, presumably for the blue colored puss/leakage the victims bleed from their orifices. It's not pretty, and it's not going well. Rumors of governments killing off the low-class populations to prevent the spread of the virus are likely well founded. Then conveniently, in their desperation, a mysterious message is received from the former US, a message declaring their continual superiority, and that they have discovered a cure to the Sky Virus. It's the first contact in 30 years, and those who receive it have no choice but to take it seriously. As the two factions choose representatives and begrudgingly meet to deliberate, we are now introduced to the full set of main characters. A pair of adult siblings, sent form the United States as children before the borders closed permanently with their parents on the wrong side, an army man, some government officials, and a reporter make up the team. No one can believe the transmission, yet none of them can deny it--they MUST discover the truth, as the survival of the human race may very well be depending on it. Flash forward to the group in a helicopter, headed to the pacific border of a former California. The sight on the horizon is unreal--metal walls wrapped around the coastline, machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery lined along the perimeter. They talk of an air-wall, put into place over the country to prevent airborne attacks or illegal entry, which has to be put down to allow their entry. This is good, it means the group is expected. One of the characters, Daniel, even testifies of his attempt to enter the USA several years back. The truth of the situation is clear to the reader--they really did close up shop for good. No one in, no one out. For thirty years. The plan was simple. Follow the coordinates sent over the mysterious transmission. The air-wall will be open, the weapons unarmed. Unsurprisingly, things don't exactly go as planned. It is only minutes over the country before their helicopter is bombed, sending them careening into the desert. There is no radioed explanation, no warning, just the attack, and the crash. The desert is a wasteland, nothing in sight but mountains. The team decides to find higher ground, and head off to investigate a glimmer coming from one of the clifftops, leaving their pilot to guard over their now-useless vehicle. When they reach the top and look back, to their shock and horror, a band of unknown locals have overcome their crash landed copter--and the steed of their leader eats the legs of the pilot. It's more clear than ever that this was all some kind of trick, especially when they see the horde of locals coming at them from the other direction as well. It's part Mad Max, part Blade Runner. Classic cars tricked out with unrecognizable flags and decorations, twisted and mutated creatures being ridden like horses, and everyone wrapped in shiny silver foil-like cloth. Science fiction loves it's post-apocalyptic and dystopian designs, which are well displayed here. At the center of the group--a massive boat-like vehicle dwarfing the others, much like an entire city on hellish wheels. The situation seems helpless for a moment, until a wall opens in the face of the cliff, and a figure steps out. They're invited into the mountain itself, where a group pf refugees is huddled. They call themselves the resistance, and they're led by the man who sent the transmission. The only thing is, he doesn't know a damn thing about the message. This was a brilliant first issue. The use of time jumps and different styles of narration let you piece the story together as you go along. The cast of characters haven't been too filed out yet. The focus has been more on plot than characterization, but this is a high concept comic, so that makes sense. There's plenty of time to round out the cast as we go along, so I' not worried about that. This pilot issue gives us stacks of material to explore, and sets up endless adventure in the new-new world. We're left at the end with countless questions leading us into the second issue. Who sent the transmission, and to what end? Why under the guise of this scientist? What the hell happened in those 30 years? Is there any hope for the rest of the world and the Sky Virus? Find out with issue #2 on December 11th!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
What you'll find on the SSG Blog:*Yancy St. PODCAST NOTES! Categories
All
Archives
September 2023
|